Fallout: Rangers of the Wastes Prologue
The Fallout: Rangers of the Wastes Prologue is a short film by Hybernation Studios. Taking place roughly 5 years before Episode 1, it is described by Max Kade as "just the Exile kicking ass." 'Plot' The prologue takes place in 2272, 5 years before Episode One of the series. The film is just over 1 minute long, and introduces three characters; the Exile and the Reaper Brothers. In the film, the Exile is seen walking past a small building, and past a pair of raiders. One of the raiders calls out to the Exile, stating that he has never seen him before and wants to know his name. The Exile turns away and keeps walking, to which the raider reacts violently. One raider charges the Exile with a baseball bat, while the other ducks off screen. The Exile knocks one raider to the ground, only to be attacked from behind by the other. The Exile quickly recovers and elbows the raider in the stomach. Meanwhile, the first raider has recovered, and charges the Exile again. The film slips into slow motion as the Exile blocks the attack while breaking the raider's arm. The Exile proceeds to slam the raider's face into the asphalt. Before leaving the scene, the Exile tosses a few bottle caps at the raider as compensation. 'Development' Pre-Production Max Kade did not put a lot of thought into the story, as it was intended to be a quick test film, similar to one he made a few months earlier. He wrote in next to no dialogue, but plenty of fighting. One week before shooting would begin, the Exile's amor was only two thirds of the way finished. The armor was not completed in time for the film, and at some points in the film, the armor looks to be falling apart. Filming The film was made on Saturday, June 16th in the parking lot behind the Masonic Temple, Salt Lake City. It was filmed in the course of two hours with only three actors. No elaboarate props or costumes were used except for the Exile's armor. The movie was filmed on Max Kade's iPod Touch, which he has used for a majority of his short films. Throughout the film, Max Kade encountered many problems with his armor, which sometimes fell off. He had trouble keeping his mask on at times, and the neck guard of the chestplate was constantly falling off. Post-production Editing the film took only 6 hours, and was done the same day as the shoot. Max Kade edited part of the film directly on his iPod Touch, while the rest was finished on a computer. Most of the editing process was adding sound effects and music. On ocassion, when an actor punched another, Max would speed up the punch and cut a few frames away when the actor was hit, to make it look like the actors were really fighting rather than stage fighting. The film was posted on Hybernation Studios' youtube channel on June 17th, 2012. 'The Film' ' ' 'Trivia' *Max Kade has confirmed that the Reaper Brothers will return in the web series as the leaders of the Reapers. Joran Rosell and Always Maddoc will double their roles in the series as their main characters and the Reapers. *The film is not to be confused with the "Fallout test film" found on the Studio's youtube channel. That is a separate video, and not considered official RotW canon. *It was during the shoot of this film that Max Kade appointed Brian Gregory the role of co-director of the series, along with his role of portraying James Archer. *After the Exile is pushed to the ground, for a split second you can see Max holding onto his face. This is because the impact from hitting the ground nearly knocked his mask off. *When the Exile elbows the raider in the stomach, Max Kade was really hitting Joran Rosell by accident. The reason for this was that Kade could barely see out of his mask, as the lenses were made last minute out of black duct tape with small holes punched in it. *Joran Rosell kept his gas mask on for the entire two hours of shooting. Max Kade claimed "If that isn't dedication to the project, I don't know what is." *As of now, it is unknown if the Reapers were waiting for the Exile, or if they stumbled upon him. Max Kade has hinted that they intended to capture him and collect the Legion's bounty on his head. *Max Kade has confirmed that he will be remaking the Prologue sometime in the future, but with more action and dialogue, as well a full Exile costume. He intends to use scenes from the remake as flashbacks in the series. *The music at the beginning is "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as heard on the Enclave Radio in Fallout 3, which means the Enclave is most likely very much active at the time of the film.